Tropaeolum 2013- 2014

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

A very lovely and floriferous plant Roma!
And really nicely grown.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

This year I've been lucky enough with Tr Sessilifolium seedlings.
They're just having a few flowers. These are really "huge" compared with the leaf size.
Don't know whether they'll produce a tuber...
JP

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Tropaeolum Smithii  growing on my balcony in a small pot and offering a few ( wonderful ) flowers
JP

[Maggi Young]

Great plant J-P. 

[ashley]

Well done J-P.  I couldn't get this to germinate but must try again.

[baby2080]

Very beautiful , JP, I used to follow you in flicker.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Many thanks Maggi, Ashley & Baby2080...
This year will bring another great reward: after many trials and failures Tr CILIATUM & Tr SPECIOSUM have been established at LYON BG ( and on my balcony! ) This is mainly due to the very special weather we've had since last autumn. The plants are growing freely ( and are invading their unfortunate neighbours in my containers ). I only hope they'll withstand next summer...
Tr CILIATUM is the first in bloom
JP

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Another young Tropaeolum seedling. The very last one for this year. It bears strangely coloured flowers with a large tint of green.
This is a hybrid raised from the seed exchange ( labelled as Tr Beuthii ).
JP

[Steven McFarlane]

Hi

I thought that you might like to see a few pictures of T. pentaphyllum ssp. megapetalum.  I have been trying to grow this plant for many, many years. Last year from seed it produced a few poor flowers and a large tuber.

This year the tuber has produced a fine plant with many flowers.

I am now hoping that it will produce some seed.

Steven

[Maggi Young]

Cracking flowers and the tuber is pretty impressive too. 

[Jupiter]

I'm coming back to Tropaeolum now after a break; I had a few disappointments when my Tr. brachyceras, raised lovingly from seed and kept going for many years all rotted and I lost the tubers. I also lost my Tr. azureum, germinated the seed I collected last year and grew a couple of good sized tubers, kept those tubers healthy over autumn/winter in sand and had very nice plants growing and producing flower buds when a rogue cockatoo knocked the pot to the ground and smashed both plants off at ground level! So yes, I've had some bad luck. I think I've recovered from the shock of these disasters and I'm ready to start building the collection again.

Fermi, if you read this; your friend who has the beautiful ciliatum in her garden, she ought to consider keeping and handling the seedlings as they pop up. It's such a lovely thing I would love to have it here. If she ever does have seedlings or even tubers could you pass on my details to her and I would buy them from her.

Steven and J-P, is the Tr. pentaphyllum ssp. megapetalum going to be offered in the next SRGC Seed exchange?

[Lesley Cox]

I wonder if I'm Fermi's friend (yes) to whom you refer Jupiter, with the T. ciliatum in her garden (yes, but no). We moved house back in February 2013 and I was quite careful NOT to bring T. ciliatum. OK, so it is very pretty in bloom but is savagely rampant, or was for me, clambering over not only the fence where it was planted, but out into the wider world over perennials, rhodos and many other things, a disaster in the making really. I did bring some seed with me because a couple of people had requested it but that has gone now. While I admit it was attractive, I never want to see it again!

[fermi de Sousa]

You don't have to wonder, Lesley!
Jamus,
I think you're referring to my friend Cathy in Macedon as I posted a pic from her garden - last year?
I'll ask her if she still has it,
cheers
fermi

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

I'm coming back to Tropaeolum now after a break; I had a few disappointments when my Tr. brachyceras, raised lovingly from seed and kept going for many years all rotted and I lost the tubers. I also lost my Tr. azureum, germinated the seed I collected last year and grew a couple of good sized tubers, kept those tubers healthy over autumn/winter in sand and had very nice plants growing and producing flower buds when a rogue cockatoo knocked the pot to the ground and smashed both plants off at ground level! So yes, I've had some bad luck. I think I've recovered from the shock of these disasters and I'm ready to start building the collection again.

Fermi, if you read this; your friend who has the beautiful ciliatum in her garden, she ought to consider keeping and handling the seedlings as they pop up. It's such a lovely thing I would love to have it here. If she ever does have seedlings or even tubers could you pass on my details to her and I would buy them from her.

Steven and J-P, is the Tr. pentaphyllum ssp. megapetalum going to be offered in the next SRGC Seed exchange?


Hi Jamus,
Yours is quite a sad story but it happened to me several times. I think one can never be sure to keep a Tropaeolum tuber forever. One day it rots and we wonder why, having done nothing special. This is a real catastrophy when it's a rare species which can't be replaced. I sow seeds each year in order to be able to face these unpredictable losses. But sometimes seeds don't grow or don't produce any tuber...and with rare ones seed stock is often limited. For instance the Tr Brachyceras I grew this year mostly had sterile flowers. So no seed to replace in case the tuber rots...
Referring to Tr Pentaphyllum ssp megapetalum: I also grow this one but my plant started later than Steven's one. And it's not in bloom yet. So I doubt I'll harvest any seed. And I don't know whether I'll take part to the seed exchange from now on.
JP

[Jupiter]

Thanks fermi. Ciliatum looks like it might do well for me in my garden, and I'm young enough and fit enough (dumb enough?) to not be put off by the prospect of chasing seedlings all around the garden!

Lesley you sent me seeds once before but none germinated. Typical of tropaeolum, isn't it? Fickle mistresses.